ANA JHALREM PAUNIL

ELLA MARIE DIAZ

CVIRAA Journalist
CVIRAA Journalist
The water cycle has no starting point, but we'll begin in the oceans,
since that is where most of Earth's water exists. The sun, which
drives the water cycle, heats water in the oceans. Some of
it evaporates as vapor into the air; a relatively smaller amount of
moisture is added as ice and snow sublimate directly from the solid
state into vapor. Rising air currents take the vapor up into
the atmosphere, along with water from evapotranspiration, which is
water transpired from plants and evaporated from the soil. The
vapor rises into the air where cooler temperatures cause it
to condense into clouds.Air currents move clouds around the globe,
and cloud particles collide, grow, and fall out of the sky
as precipitation. Some precipitation falls as snow and can
accumulate as ice caps and glaciers, which can store frozen water for
thousands of years. Snowpacks in warmer climates often thaw and
melt when spring arrives, and the melted water flows overland
as snowmelt. Most precipitation falls back into the oceans or onto
land, where, due to gravity, the precipitation flows over the ground
as surface runoff. A portion of runoff enters rivers in valleys in the
landscape, with streamflow moving water towards the oceans.
Runoff, and groundwater seepage, accumulate and are stored as
freshwater in lakes.

Not all runoff flows into rivers, though. Much of it soaks into the
ground as infiltration. Some of the water infiltrates into the ground
and replenishes aquifers(saturated subsurface rock), which store
huge amounts of freshwater for long periods of time. Some
infiltration stays close to the land surface and can seep back into
surface-water bodies (and the ocean) as groundwater discharge,
and some groundwater finds openings in the land surface and
emerges as freshwatersprings. Yet more groundwater is absorbed
by plant roots to end up as evapotranspiration from the leaves. Over
time, though, all of this water keeps moving, some to reenter the
ocean, where the water cycle "ends" ... oops - I mean, where it
"begins."

Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plants and animals in the

form of ions PO43- and HPO42-. It is a part of DNA-molecules, of
molecules that store energy (ATP and ADP) and of fats of cell
membranes. Phosphorus is also a building block of certain parts of
the human and animal body, such as the bones and teeth.

Phosphorus can be found on earth in water, soil and sediments.

Unlike the compounds of other matter cycles phosphorus cannot be
found in air in the gaseous state. This is because phosphorus is
usually liquid at normal temperatures and pressures. It is mainly
cycling through water, soil and sediments. In the atmosphere
phosphorus can mainly be found as very small dust particles.
Phosphorus moves slowly from deposits on land and in sediments,
to living organisms, and than much more slowly back into the soil
and water sediment. The phosphorus cycle is the slowest one of the
matter cycles that are described here.
Phosphorus is most commonly found in rock formations and ocean
sediments as phosphate salts. Phosphate salts that are released from
rocks through weathering usually dissolve in soil water and will be
absorbed by plants. Because the quantities of phosphorus in soil are
generally small, it is often the limiting factor for plant growth. That
is why humans often apply phosphate fertilizers on farmland.
Phosphates are also limiting factors for plant-growth in marine
ecosystems, because they are not very water-soluble. Animals
absorb phosphates by eating plants or plant-eating animals.
Phosphorus cycles through plants and animals much faster than it
does through rocks and sediments. When animals and plants die,
phosphates will return to the soils or oceans again during decay.
After that, phosphorus will end up in sediments or rock formations
again, remaining there for millions of years. Eventually, phosphorus
is released again through weathering and the cycle starts over.

Carbon is present in the atmosphere in the form of a gas called

carbon dioxide. During photosynthesis, plants use carbon dioxide
from air and water molecules alongside the sun's rays to produce
energy in the form of glucose. This takes place in the leaves, but is
also a process adopted by algae and phytoplankton. Oxygen is
generated as a byproduct of this process, and it enters the
atmosphere for other organisms to use. While there, carbon attaches
to oxygen and carbon dioxide is formed, which means carbon
dioxide enters the atmosphere again.
During photosynthesis, some carbon locks into the plant. When
people use plants that have been dead for hundreds of years as fossil
fuels, they interrupt the natural carbon oxygen cycle that makes
some carbon become stationary while allowing others to remain in
the atmosphere. When people burn fossil fuels, excess carbon is
released into the atmosphere. As a result, levels of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere are much higher than they used to be.
 Biogeochemic
al Cycles
The nitrogen cycle is the process by which nitrogen is
converted between its various chemical forms. This
transformation can be carried out through both biological
and physical processes. Important processes in the nitrogen
cycle includefixation, ammonification, nitrification,
and denitrification. The majority of Earth's
atmosphere (78%) is nitrogen, making it the largest pool of
nitrogen. However, atmospheric nitrogen has limited
availability for biological use, leading to a scarcity of usable
nitrogen in many types of ecosystems. The nitrogen cycle is
of particular interest to ecologists because nitrogen
availability can affect the rate of key ecosystem processes,
including primary production and decomposition. Human
activities such as fossil fuel combustion, use of artificial
nitrogen fertilizers, and release of nitrogen in wastewater
have dramatically altered the global nitrogen cycle.